Support Groups

Great tips on support groups.  I attend one at the local library run by the head of the local MHA (Mental Health America--formerly Mental Health Assoc.) who is also a licensed therapist & consumer so we get all sorts of great feedback & warm compassion from her.  She's a great friend.

A couple tips I think are helpful:  Don't dominate the conversation.  If you have a pressing issue, by all means, speak about it, but a support group is not intended to be a therapy session & the other members will probably comment on your situation but should be given time to voice their own concerns, problems & triumphs as well.  Sharing our successes is an important part of our group.  We are all given a boost from the person who did a difficult thing & was successful (from getting a job to expressing a boundary to a contrary relative or just driving to the grocery store when one has a driving phobia).

DO NOT COME UNDER THE INFLUENCE of illegal drugs or alcohol.  You may think you can "hold" your liquor & no one will be able to tell you're drunk or a little pot just relaxes you.  Believe me, we can tell & we can't in good conscience let you drive under that condition (or disrupt the group) so the police will be called if you cannot provide a phone # of someone to pick you up or call a cab.

Our leader has designated certain people who are regulars & are "bubbly" personalities & comfortable greeting new people to introduce themselves & make new people feel comfortable as they enter the room.  We also have a person stationed close to the door of the library so if someone enters looking a bit lost he/she is asked if the support group is what he is looking for & can be directed to the room.

Our support group meets officially at the library once a month, but we also meet informally once a month at a local coffee shop on a Sat. morning.  We usually spend up to 2 1/2 hours there! We stake out a quiet corner & catch up on how our lives are going.  We can get quite animated (& not just from the coffee; I drink water). Sometimes we have had to "sush" people a couple times so that the other patrons do not hear the subject matter.

I have 3 good female friends & they are all from this support group.  Two male friends are very dear to me, also.

Our support group leader has found grants/scholarships for us "regulars" to attend all-day conferences the MHA puts on, as well as ones pertaining exclusively to bipolar (one is coming up next week).  She knows how to get these grants through MHA, the governor's office & many other entities & she supplies the transportation!

Getting involved in a support group can have so many side benefits besides just that 1 1/2 or 2 hour meeting time.  I've been able to get trained to co-lead a support group in the women's jail with the leader of this support group & that is very rewarding.  From this opportunity I am included in a monthy "training" session with other support group leaders & mental health professionals to hear speakers & problem solve & share info. & resources.  All because I dared to step into that room at the library for a depression/bipolar support group listed in a little blurb in the local paper! You will find consumers are valued there, treated with respect, like (dare I say it) as an equal to the "normals."

I would very much like to join this group, it sounds like it's where i need to be right now in the stage of biplor i'm in. The depression the feeling of isolation and crying spells out of nowhere. And no one who understands.

Hello. I was diagnosed 10 days ago and began lithium the same day. 19 yrs ago I was misdiagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and had been taking trazodone and prozac regularly as directed.

I'm feeling a bit alone with my diagnosis and would like to meet and talk with others who are bipolar. Thank you. 

Know that you're not alone.  Last May, I was a professional 49 year old woman with no history of mental illness who was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for three weeks (delusions and hallucinations).  I was put on lithium along with other drugs while at the hospital.  When I left the hospital and met with my new psychiatrist, he wanted to eventually get me off the lithium and replace it with Geodon, which we did over a period of months.  The Geodon has far fewer side effects than the lithium.  When I started the lithium (900 mg at the hospital, then 300 after I left), I had severe side effects. It slowed down my speed of thinking, made it hard for me to walk (my husband called it the "lithium shuffle"), etc.  But I persevered with it and it got rid of the voices in my head and the other delusions.  That was a good trade-off for me personally.  I'm now writing a memoir about the experience.  One of my delusions was that I was a mermaid. So I'm calling my book "I Thought I Was A Mermaid".  Try to see the humor. I know it's tough.  And stay on your meds.  Even when the going gets tough.  You'll feel so much better when your brain chemistry stabilizes.  It's worth it, and there's a rainbow on the other side. A differen rainbow than you expected, but a rainbow just the same.  Good luck.  My blog's crazymer1.wordpress.com if you want more insight.

Hi Kelti,

Where and when do you meet?

My husband has bi-polar. I knew about it before we married, but now our marriage is in tatters. It hurts when he runs away when we try to communicate, its always as if he has to be right, never in the middle. Its frustrating... I dont want our marriage to end... I feel as I am going insane myself. I just need help...to understand better... or why I say one thing and two days later he said I stated something totally different. I love him...need help in Phoenix, AZ

First of all, I'm praying for you. Secondly, a therapist would be a tremendous help. ASAP. Thirdly, there are some links to other websites on my websites.  Fourth, DON'T TRY TO HANDLE THIS YOURSELF.